Plant lice suck the juices from the plant, making the plant weak. Plants start to feel sticky due to the secretion of the plant lice. Leaves of the plant will start curling and the plant can be infected with viruses. Plant lice reproduce very fast, and the plant will be covered with them in a short period of time.

A natural way to get rid of plant lice is by using ladybugs and its larvae. A ladybug-larvae can eat up to 150 plant lice per day. An adult ladybug can eat up to 100 plant lice per day. After 20 days a larvae has grown into an adult ladybug. The advantage of a larvae over an adult is that a larvae will stay on the plant it is placed on because it can´t fly. Adults can fly away but when sufficient food can be found they are most likely to stay.

An adult ladybug will lay between 20 and 40 eggs per day which will turn into larvae to eat the lice again. Eggs hatch between 4 to 8 days.

The best temperature to use the ladybugs is from 15°C and up. Below this the development is very slow and the effect will minimize. An adult ladybug lives between 2 and 3 months.